Star Trace Gate

The Green Palace is located in the very center of the Hanging Coffin Land, facing south, and is quite a distance from the Hall of Immortality.

On the stone steps, Aunt Tianwei listened to Ren Ye's almost blunt questioning and suspicion, but her pretty face did not show any anger, fear or apprehension.

She subconsciously licked her lips, and her eyes showed extremely complex emotions, as if she was thinking and making a decision.

Ren Ye faced forward, completely ignoring his aunt's reaction, and continued speaking to himself: "As the old saying goes, if you walk by the river long enough, you're bound to get your shoes wet. A person's habits are best known only to themselves and their closest relatives. Going out late at night year after year, it's impossible not to leave a trace. To avoid being noticed by me and to avoid being noticed by the neighbors, the best way is to find a stable job that requires working at night. And this kind of job must be very independent; it can't be a large group job, otherwise it'll be like a persistent leech, making it difficult to leave quietly on your own…!"

“Fire masters each have their own hall and furnace, giving them a high degree of freedom. Moreover, the fire control of each fire master is different, with some having a longer and some a shorter fire control. This makes it impossible for them to rest at the same time, and they have to take turns, which gives her the opportunity to sneak into the Divine Tomb at night.”

"For so many years, she was like a precise machine, operating silently in the darkness, never making a mistake. Until the Yin family fell, she completely lost her identity as a fire controller, and could only drug my food to make me sleep even more soundly. But unexpectedly, that night when Brother Yu and the other two came to frame me with the jailer's shoes, the storyteller happened to give me a powerful Heavenly Thunder Talisman, which helped me wake up from the danger ahead of time, and exposed the conspiracy in front of me. I also saw that she was not resting in the room, but had mysteriously disappeared...!"

"When I left the hall, I asked her why she went out so late at night. She said... she went up the mountain to collect herbs for me, just to save some money and make life less tight."

"She was so calm and kind to me that every word she said dispelled all my doubts."

"That night, she was covered in dust and dirt, which is typical of someone going up the mountain to gather herbs. However, the mountain she went up was the Mountain of Sacred Tombs; and the herbs she gathered were 'medicines' used in human sacrifices!"

Ren slowly turned his head to face his aunt, and bluntly stated, "Outside the Divine Tomb Mountain, at the site of the death sacrifice... the terrain there is extremely complex, yet you were able to avoid all dangers and lead the storyteller up the mountain. You said you understand the terrain there because you passed through the site of the death sacrifice on the day the coffin was unearthed... But that's too much of a coincidence! Could it be that the route you took back then was exactly the same as the place we entered that day? Could it allow you to instantly discern directions in a maze-like circle of graves?!"

"Furthermore, even if it's the exact same route, there are still changes in time. Eight years have passed, and during that time, the Illusionary Village has conducted at least eight large-scale death sacrifices. If there were any unforeseen circumstances, there would be even more. Countless intruders have been refined into little golden figures, adding graves upon graves. The outer and inner areas have long since changed. Even the jailers who sent those to be sacrificed in the Heavenly Prison wouldn't necessarily be able to accurately find the little golden figures they placed last year after entering the death sacrifice site a year later, would they?!"

"All these details suggest only one possibility: the place of the death sacrifice is the true location where you went to serve at night!"

Ren did not show any overly excited emotions during his narration; instead, he remained frighteningly calm and objective.

"brush!"

Aunt Tianwei slowly stood up, her face showing no excitement, fear, or rage at having her conspiracy exposed.

She looked calmly at her nephew, her gaze incredibly gentle, and said softly, "Qi'er, based solely on these crude speculations, are you really going to conclude that your only relative in this world is a despicable, shameless, and treacherous villain?"

"Are you saying that Zhao Mi didn't steal your original eyes, but rather that your aunt became greedy and thus took away your extraordinary opportunity?"

"No...isn't that right?!" Ren Ye's lips twitched, and he asked in a trembling voice.

“I know you are in dire straits, and you can’t see a glimmer of hope in this celestial palace, so your mind has collapsed and your soul has been possessed by demons.” Aunt Tianwei’s eyes were full of heartache. She slowly raised her hand, wanting to stroke her nephew’s forehead to offer warm comfort: “Aunt doesn’t blame you, and she doesn’t want to argue with you. As long as you can regain your senses…!”

"Shh."

When Ren saw her extend her palm, he instinctively flinched backward, then said in a trembling voice, "You...you still don't want to admit it?"

“This illusory village is rife with wickedness. Your suspicion of me is not due to my personality, but to the environment…!” Aunt Tianwei gently shook her head: “Qi’er.”

“You’ve overlooked a habit and detail,” Ren interrupted her again: “It’s the scent, a special medicinal aroma.”

When Tianwei's aunt heard this, she was stunned.

“You have a cleanliness obsession. Even though our little shabby house is drafty, you always keep it spotless. You have been in charge of the fire at the Yin family for many years. The various herbs in the alchemy furnace have a very mixed smell. Some herbs have a strong fragrance, while others are extremely bitter and foul. Over the years, this will make your clothes and body constantly smell of medicine boxes.”

“You hate this smell, and you’ve also learned some pharmacology under the control of fire. So, you specially made a very fragrant powder to cover up this unpleasant smell on your body, like the natural scent of some kind of herb.”

"Originally, this scent was very unique and pleasant. If I hadn't been with you for a long time, I could have instantly recognized it."

"But we've lived together in this house for years, spending every day together, so I've become familiar with and adapted to this smell. It's like how a person can hardly smell their own body odor, and has never felt anything special about it."

"Until you led the storyteller up the God's Tomb Mountain, Little Fatty and I, on a whim, went to explore the site of the death sacrifice. Then, next to the little golden statue that was just a shell, we also smelled that familiar scent."

“I suspect that you also despise those living dead imprisoned in golden shells. They may also have a putrid, rotten smell on them, which is why you used that powder to cover it up, so that even after a long time, the same smell as yours still lingers there.”

"Just now, when you brought me the porridge, I was too focused, my mind was unusually active, and my senses were tense and sensitive, so... I smelled that scent again."

Ren Ye's expression was calm, and his words were measured, yet his speech was filled with an unwavering certainty.

He doesn't know yet that Sun Qingxue had always said that the two of them had a strange and unpleasant smell. This was not only because Miss Sun had an innate sense of superiority over wild dogs, but also because she cultivated the Extreme Cold Technique and was extremely sensitive to the details of her surroundings.

Ren Ye turned to his aunt, his voice hoarse, and said, "I used to habitually imagine Zhao Mi as the real culprit, so I subconsciously thought of all the clues as belonging to him. For example, outsiders say that Zhao Mi's cultivation has improved by leaps and bounds in recent years, which is not normal...!"

"But now that I think about it carefully, these clues fit you perfectly."

"To outsiders, you are at the Crimson Qi level, and even to Sun Michen and Zhao Mi, you might just be a cultivator at the White Qi level. But when we first used the Heavenly Dragon Four Directions Mirror to open the tomb, you released spiritual energy comparable to the Black Qi level... This is equivalent to forcibly advancing your rank in a very short time. You explained this phenomenon as the abnormal bloodline of my Huang family members, with our star cores being naturally more solid and expansive than others... But that sounds rather far-fetched."

Why is your spiritual power far superior to that of others of the same level?

As he said this, Ren slowly stood up, forcibly suppressing the feeling of shattering in his heart, and said word by word: "Because those little golden men who were sacrificed have already fed you. The original eyes that I have been searching for are not actually in the Zhao family, nor in this Divine Tomb Immortal Palace, but have always been right in front of me, on my only relative!"

"I've been wondering all this time, if you really stole my original eyes, how did you manage to enter the Divine Tomb so frequently and silently for so long without anyone noticing? You know, you need a guide talisman to enter here...!"

"I considered many possibilities, but in the end I have to thank the storyteller. His courage led me to a very crucial clue. That is, after entering the Hall of the Undying, he sensed an aura similar to mine in the gray mist. But I had never been here before, so why would there be a similar aura?"

"Because of you! You took away my Origin Eyes, which naturally gave you the same aura as me. And the Origin Eyes and the Devouring Gray Mist are from the same source... Therefore, you are the only one in the Illusionary Village who can find the Illusionary God's Tomb without a guide talisman."

"Why can't outsiders get in? Because they can't sense the existence and aura of the illusory divine tomb, so they can't find the way. The function of the guiding talisman is actually to amplify the existence and aura of the divine tomb, causing this illusion to appear briefly. But you don't need it at all, because you took my Origin Eyes and used the power of Origin to resonate with the Devouring Gray Mist in the divine tomb... and then you can see the appearance of the Divine Tomb Immortal Palace."

"Also, I thought of another detail. When Zhao Haochen confronted him, Little Fatty was eavesdropping alone outside the clan hall. He said that during the first investigation, Zhao Haochen borrowed the Heavenly Spirit Rat to track the scent in the Yin family's pill hall, but he couldn't find it... and that day the Heavenly Spirit Rat seemed to have gone mad, running around the city aimlessly."

"Only I know that you went to the Yin Family Pill Hall and stole the Divine Communication Powder. The abnormal reaction of the Heavenly Spirit Rat proves that it is not insane at all, nor has it lost its ability to detect scents. The reason it is running around the city is actually very simple, that is... it smelled your scent, but that scent leads directly to the Illusory Divine Tomb, but it cannot sense the existence of the Divine Tomb, and cannot find the Heavenly Bridge to enter the tomb, so it is confused and runs around the village aimlessly...!"

"And why didn't the Heavenly Spirit Rat track you home?! That's because when you entered the Yin family's Pill Hall to steal the Divine Communication Powder, you had already considered the possibility of being tracked. So, you deliberately disrupted the aura, thus guiding the Heavenly Spirit Rat towards the Divine Tomb. In this way, its mad behavior would cause the patrolling hall to completely lose patience and confidence... thus making the theft of the Yin family's pills an unsolved mystery that everyone is helpless to solve. After all, the Yin family has already fallen, and the entire clan has migrated. Even if we investigate from other directions, we will find no clues...!"

"You are too smart, so smart that it feels completely foreign to me... I'm terrified... I'm scared."

As Ren Ye spoke, the emotions of collapse that had been suppressed in his heart for so long finally showed signs of erupting.

"Qi'er, it's my fault for being incompetent. I couldn't help you regain your original eyes and could only watch you struggle trapped in this perilous realm of the Divine Tomb... I failed to protect you... causing your soul to be possessed by demons...!" For the first time, Aunt Tianwei's eyes reddened, her voice filled with self-reproach as she said, "I am a sinner of the Huang family...!"

"Aunt, even now you still refuse to admit it?!" Ren Ye could no longer suppress his emotions and clenched his fist, saying, "Why are you still acting?! It's just you and me here, who are you putting on this act for?"

"Don't be anxious! It's alright, it's alright. If you say it's me, then it's me." Aunt Tianwei anxiously stretched out her hands: "Don't take it so seriously, don't dwell on it...!"

“If you’re not the real culprit, then you can enter the Hall of the Undying.” Ren Ye gritted his teeth and interrupted, enunciating each word clearly: “Do you dare to enter?”